A note on the whole 'left' v 'centre' debate. This is part of the whole bind Labour's been in for years now.
1. Centrists have no solutions... and New Labour laid the foundations, in many ways, of Brexit. Certainly in the abandonment of working class communities across the UK.
1. Centrists have no solutions... and New Labour laid the foundations, in many ways, of Brexit. Certainly in the abandonment of working class communities across the UK.
2. But there's an equally big issue for the left. It is this. Britain is not a socialist country. I wish it was, but it's not. There's a reason the US was founded on essentially English principles: liberty, property, individualism. All of which remain powerful and compelling.
The only time in history when Britain genuinely was socialist was thanks to a world war which made everyone dependent on each other. We're 75 years on from that war now, and the country is only growing more individualistic, with the safety net trashed.
It's ingrained in British culture. We're much more individualistic than collectivist. There's a reason Thatcher won such huge majorities, after all.
That culture can be changed in part. It can't be transformed. Hundreds, even thousands of years of history say it can't.
That culture can be changed in part. It can't be transformed. Hundreds, even thousands of years of history say it can't.
That's another part of why, in 2005 or thereabouts, I said to my best friend: "Make the most of this government. It's the best you'll ever know".
But to go back to point 1: each generation is poorer than the last. The planet itself is in the gravest peril.
But to go back to point 1: each generation is poorer than the last. The planet itself is in the gravest peril.
The old solutions just don't work any longer. Meaning whatever emerges from this catastrophe has to appeal to both centrists AND leftists... and the only way of doing that is through a progressive alliance, which guarantees PR, a 2nd Scottish referendum and a Green New Deal.
